The technology ecosystem and a domestic copper company signed seven contracts totaling 500 billion rials ($1.8 million) with the help of the state-backed Iran National Innovation Fund.
Shahid Bahonar Copper Industries Company presented a list of technological shortfalls in the field and called on tech firms and startups to help tackle them during an online event called Zanjireh (meaning Chain in Persian) organized by the fund on Tuesday, ISNA reported.
According to Hamidreza Shahvardi, INIF’s chief advisor, the event was aimed at introducing domestic industries with tech investment opportunities, completing their value chain, upgrading industrial technologies and expanding the tech ecosystem’s target market.
Shahvardi said copper production is one of Iran’s key industries closely connected with automotive and electric vehicle production, new transportation systems, power, electronic and micro-electronic industries.
“Upgrading the copper sector with cutting-edge technologies can have a direct impact on other fields. That is why the industry was chosen to participate in the tech event,” he explained.
According to Majid Ziaie, CEO of Shahid Bahonar Copper Industries Company, the technology used in copper production is at least half a century old and was imported from Germany, Finland and Japan.
He added that managing water scarcity and copper smelting slag, and localizing copper tubes, the annual import of which totals $40 million, are among the company's main challenges.
“We are optimistic that the talented and potential tech firms can help overcome the limitations in copper industry while also growing into well-developed enterprises,” Ziaie said.
According to the officials, Zanjireh events are intended to be a series of technology gatherings that address the technological needs of various domestic sectors, such as solar power, waste and water treatment, during periodic sessions.
Similar Measures
Since the government announced its policies on supporting knowledge-based companies and fledgling startups in 2013, the technology ecosystem has flourished in many fields.
Officials believe that tech firms are helping upgrade almost all sectors while gradually transforming traditional economy into a knowledge-based one.
Recently, a startup accelerator signed a deal with INIF to prepare the ground for tech firms to move forward and enter the market in the medical and health industry.
According to Arian Aqili, the head of the accelerator, the fund will provide startups and knowledge-based companies with financial assistance for producing medical prototypes and carrying out pilot tests.
Instead, he added, the accelerator will receive a share of the tech firms’ profit after they commercialize their products.
Regenerative medicine and tissue engineering, probiotic and functional foods, nanotech-targeted therapy for cancer, scar patches and health-protective items such as sanitizers are subjects explored by the accelerator.
A similar initiative was launched in late April by INIF with an investment of 140 billion rials ($509,000) in nanotech firms to boost the domestic production of health-protective items used for stemming the transmission of coronavirus.
According to the fund’s website Inif.ir, Iran Nanotechnology Innovation Council helped INIF sign contracts with eligible knowledge-based companies.
Mohammad Ali Bahreini, the head of Nano-Fund Department at the council, said the contracts are geared toward the production of N95 and N99 facemasks needed by the medical staff to fight the Covid-19 outbreak.
The money was also to be spent on upgrading machinery, especially electrospinning machines, used in the production of masks.
Electrospinning is a fiber production method that uses electric force to draw charged threads of polymer solutions or polymer melts up to fiber diameters to the tune of some hundred nanometers.
The method has the potential to produce seamless non-woven items by integrating advanced manufacturing with fiber electrospinning. This would introduce multi-functionality (flame, chemical and environmental protection) by blending fibers into electrospin-laced layers in combination with polymer coatings.
In a bid to inject modern technologies to conventional industrial sector, the Vice Presidential Office for Science and Technology also entered into an agreement with Iran Small Industries and Industrial Parks Organization affiliated to the Industries Ministry last year.
According to the vice presidential office, the move was aimed at encouraging the establishment of innovative industrial units, expand the reach of technology ecosystem to the industrial sector and upgrading the quality of products and services offered by small- and medium-sized enterprises.
From a broader view, preparing the ground for the expansion of technology in the country, thus improving the labor market are also envisaged by the deal.
Parties to the agreement committed to enrich the technology infrastructures required for innovation centers and empower specialized technical centers that act as technology supporters.
Petrochemical Attainment
Focusing on the petrochemical sector, an Iranian tech firm at Pardis Technology Park in east Tehran developed a high-tech catalyst used in catalyst reforming.
Catalytic reforming is a chemical process used to convert naphthas distilled from crude oil (typically having low octane ratings) into high-octane liquid products called reformates, which are premium blending stocks for high-octane gasoline.
According to Hamzeh Kazerouni, the head of tech unit, catalysts currently used in refineries have been imported over a decade ago.
“Catalysts have outlived their usefulness and with the restrictive US sanctions, more catalysts cannot be purchased from foreign sources,” he said.
“Replacing the time-worn ones with new domestic versions can boost the productivity of refineries by around 8%, raising the annual revenue of refineries by $30 million on average.”
Kazerouni said the domestic version is far cheaper and can meet the industry’s demand.
Officials believe that supporting domestic technological growth is key to curbing the country’s dependency on foreign resources and oil revenues.
